Author Topic: Gruyere  (Read 9265 times)

Smurfmacaw

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Gruyere
« on: April 22, 2013, 09:48:30 PM »
I decided there was too much room in my aging fridge so decided to make a gruyere. 

3 Gal Creamline Milk
3/8 tsp thermo starter
1/2 tsp CaCl (diluted)
3/8 tsp calf rennet


Innoculated at 90.2 degrees.  Held for 40 minutes.  Temp drop to 90.0 degrees.  Stirred in CaCl then rennet.  (My rennet appears to be fairly strong but I undershot a tiny bit I think).  Floc time was 20 minutes.  Let set for 50 minutes.  Cut to 1/4 inch cubes.  Let rest 5 min. Gently stir and raise temp to 122 over one hour.  I was pretty close on the temp, hit 122 at 59 min and 50 seconds.   Now for a 20 minute rest at temp and I'll start the pressing process.....More to follow.

Pressed at .5 psi in 122 degree whey for 15 min.Sstarting to knit but lots of openings
flipped and redressed and pressed at 1.75 psi for 30 min under whey.  Knit looks better.
flipped and redressed and pressing at 1.75 psi for 1 hour (not under whey)  Knit looks pretty good, no obvious flaws.

Planning on 3 psi for the next press for four hours. Then again at 3 psi overnight. I used an 8 inch mould and now I think I should have used perhaps a 6 inch which I didn't have.  It's a little thinner than I would personally like.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2013, 12:31:47 AM by Smurfmacaw »

Smurfmacaw

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2013, 02:34:12 AM »
Anybody got a link to Alp's washed rind bible?  Not seeming to find it.

thanks in advance

Mike

WovenMeadows

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2013, 11:47:44 AM »
Anybody got a link to Alp's washed rind bible?  Not seeming to find it.

thanks in advance

Mike

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10633.0.html

Smurfmacaw

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2013, 10:56:53 PM »
Well,

the plan was to do  washed rind on this one but my youngest daughter had to have her appendix removed so I had to leave town to be with her.  My wife removed it from the brine and is air drying and flipping it daily.  I should be home on Saturday, can I start the washing process then or is it too late and I should just treat it normally?

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2013, 01:23:58 AM »
Well,

the plan was to do  washed rind on this one but my youngest daughter had to have her appendix removed so I had to leave town to be with her.  My wife removed it from the brine and is air drying and flipping it daily.  I should be home on Saturday, can I start the washing process then or is it too late and I should just treat it normally?

ooh, SO sorry to hear about your daughter.  Hope her recovery goes smoothly!  maybe some cheese to help her strength return.   :-\

Smurfmacaw

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2013, 06:16:20 AM »
Thanks for the good thoughts.  She is doing awesome....went to the Monterey pier tonight and had much seafood with her and her college roommate.  Surgical techniques are way  better than when I was her age.  She's always been my hobby buddy so I'm sure she'll help me work on technique this summer.  I think I'll start thinking about the SD county fair next year to get some feedback...
« Last Edit: April 25, 2013, 03:51:37 PM by Smurfmacaw »

JeffHamm

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2013, 06:59:31 PM »
Glad to hear her recovery is going well.  I suspect you can start your washing a bit late.

- Jeff

tnbquilt

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2013, 08:00:18 PM »
I have started mine washing late, because I didn't know any better, and it worked out fine. It takes a little extra time to get that dry rind moist again but what's a few extra days?

Smurfmacaw

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2013, 12:28:19 AM »
Got back this afternoon and the cheese dried nicely.  Had two patches of fuzz that I removed with cheese cloth dipped in brine.  Started the first wash with a wash solution made of 1 cup distilled water, 1/4 cup white wine and 1 Tsp salt.  Think I need to get a B. Linens culture and add to the wash or just hope the ambient species are good enough?  Smelled really good though, really like cheese that I'd like to eat.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2013, 10:54:59 PM by Smurfmacaw »

Smurfmacaw

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Photo of the Gruyere
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2013, 11:06:12 PM »
Here it is after washing the second side.  Looks like it may take a few times to make a good schmear.  Smells good though.  How hard should I sweat the small brown spots?

cowboycheese

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2013, 03:34:18 AM »
My baby Swiss got a few brown spots too besides the random colored fuzzies. The wash got rid of the fuzz but the small brown spots stayed there at least until I got a slightly stiffer brush. I added a bit of vinegar to the wash too hoping the acid would help. The spots are still there but not as dark and they didn't spread. After reading and lurking here for some time, I've come to the conclusion that I need to inoculate the wash with what I want and not let the random household wild things take over. Somehow the stuff growing in the home doesn't sound so appetizing compared to appropriately inoculated cheese caves. I think I read that Boofer uses PLA in some of his washes to force the issue (example: http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11295.msg87054.html#msg87054)

I'm watching this thread for an expert diagnosis...

Alpkäserei

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #11 on: May 01, 2013, 10:58:45 PM »
Careful with acid on the rind. Yes, this does help 'wipe off' the moldy spots, but also it will kill or at least stunt the things we want to have growing. Wine has a mild acid content already. I hesitate to use more acid than this, unless things get seriously out of hand.

But even then, I would't use vinegar. One cheese I had at home got seriously moldy, but I reclaimed it without acid. I scraped off the mold and put it back on a pretty strict washing regiment. Not a spot of the mold ever showed up again (unfortunately it had already put a little flavor in the rind, and left a dark spot that will never go away)

I prefer not to use any commercial cultures for washing -I even have left off of commercial cultures for the make, and have gone over to isolating my own wild cultures. For me, it's something of an art, a craft. I like to get my flavors from the world around me, like my ancestors before me did. That way, I feel like my products are a little more connected to the world from which they come. But not everyone wants to do that. It takes some diligence to get your own wild strains of Linens going, and some amount of knowledge to be able to isolate the ones you want. As for the stuff growing in the home, It's the same stuff you buy anyway...

But also, with all of this comes the fact that my system is geared to the fact that I make cheese every day. The cultures I make are highly perishable -I can keep them stored for very long at all, they aren't freeze dried or anything like that, just liquids full of live, hungry, happy bacteria that need to be used up within a pretty small window (like, a time span of a few hours). SO that means my methods might not be practical for you, unless you are the diligent farmer or farm wife that takes the leftover milk from the family cow and makes a batch several times a week.

Now, about the gruyere make,

I suspect you should have let it coagulate a bit longer. For example:
Our Alpkäse is an extra-hard cheese, and it coagulates with a certain amount of rennet for 30 minutes. Our rennet is quality controlled so that we know the proper amounts to use, we don't use the floc method but as I understand that system, we use a multiplier of 2. Makers of Gruyere using the same amount of rennet would typically coagulate their cheese for around 45 minutes. Other than that, the making process for the 2 cheeses are almost identical. So, that would imply a multiplier for true Swiss Gruyere of about 3.

So taking your floc time of 20 minutes, you should have coagulated for about an hour. (You used slightly less rennet or weaker rennet than would typically be used)

Also, the strength of the curd we go for in the Alps is A LOT thinner than what I see most people aiming for in America on the same cheese. This means that the cheese you get from Switzerland will often be a little bit harder than their American counterparts. I have noticed this to be true, especially with Emmentaler.


Now for brown spots,

If you are talking about what I think, these are natural results of the Linens. As the linens do their thing, they produce pigment. The color change in the rind will often be spotty at first, and in some strains it might never be consistent. Some strains are pink, some are bright orange, some are deep red, some are a sort of burnt orange, and some are golden brown. Mine are the golden brown variety, many commercial cultures will be red or orange.

Unless you have good reason to believe the brown spots are the work of mold or yeast, let them be and let them spread.

Always remember with the Schmier, we want to cheese to eventually change color. And when we get spotty color, it's our job to work up those bugs and spread them around.

Smurfmacaw

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Latest Photos
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2013, 04:37:28 PM »
After seven days of washing this is what it's starting to look like.  I assume the brownish red is linens.  Any idea on the darker spots.  There is no particular smell really.  Getting a little bit of gooeyness when I wash now.


Smurfmacaw

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2013, 04:38:21 PM »
And the other side.


High Altitude

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Re: Gruyere
« Reply #14 on: May 12, 2013, 01:43:15 AM »
Wow that looks exactly like the first ever cheese I made...a gruyere also.  I had NO idea what to expect and (being wary of any molds whatsoever), I dry brushed the surface raw for the first 2-3 weeks until there wasn't a sign of any living thing on it!  Well I aged it out and got a thin, very salty, but pretty tasty result.  Fortunately, it is edible and makes a wonderful grating cheese :-), despite the horrific treatment I unknowingly bestowed upon it....poor thing  :o.

I now know I can try this make again and work at a successful rind and better quality result.

Nice work!  I look forward to more pics as it develops.